


Of Brothers and Bonds

by Seasonal



Category: Persona 2
Genre: Gen, How to (not) promote brotherly bonding, Maya Tries, Ulala deserves more credit for literally everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24830335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seasonal/pseuds/Seasonal
Summary: Maya thinks that the thing the Suou siblings need most is each other and tries to help bring them closer together. It goes about as well as Ulala expects.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	Of Brothers and Bonds

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during EP. This was written for a Persona zine and I can finally post it here! Thanks so much for reading.

"I'm pretty sure I heard you the first time," Ulala says, with more than a hint of incredulity saturating her voice, "but let's pretend I didn't, and then it'll be like it never happened."

Maya shoots her a wounded stare, which her roommate brushes off with all the ease of falling for another man who reeks of trouble. "When has you telling me something was a bad idea ever stopped me?"

"Telling you something was a _good_ idea for your life and your future never really seemed to make much of a dent on your stubbornness either." Ulala shrugs with a weary sigh. "But seriously, Ma-ya? I don't think I've ever seen those brothers talk without one or both of them getting huffy, and you think you'll be able to make them bond? _Now_ , of all times? Don't we all kind of have a little too much to be dealing with first?"

"Multitasking," Maya insists, brightly. "And imagine what it would do for demon negotiation if they could use that brotherly bonding in combat! Tatsuya-kun, a rare smile on his face as he proudly stares at his older brother, who's clasping his shoulders and telling him how much he loves him--"

"It'd _surprise_ the demons, for sure. Maybe even scare them."

Maya flaps a hand. "Well, the battle perks aren't as important. What _is_ important is getting those two to acknowledge their bonds and get closer, before something--"

Her father, walking away. Her false smile, plastered to her face so stiffly that she felt as though she would have needed a knife to scrape it off. Lisa, Eikichi, Jun-- polite confusion, a familiarity she could no longer seek to strengthen between them. The Katsuya Suou at the police station in another time, and the way Tatsuya had stiffened in front of her when his brother's dismissive words had reached him. Ulala makes a sound like concern, and Maya laughs, willing her mirthful tone not to tremble. "Some opportunities you need to grab onto while you can. Especially if it's family, or your friends. I still think that if I had reached out to you more, if I'd been a better friend, you never would have had to go through that nightmare."

"There you go again, thinking of me instead of the fact that I was legitimately trying to kill you at the time..." Ulala's eyes soften, though; ironic, really, to think that their friendship now wouldn't be this strong if she hadn't caved to her own insecurity and jealousy and dialed a number that she hadn't known might doom her as well. "Fine, fine. If you're so set on it, I'll lend a hand."

"You're the best!!" Maya grasps her friend's hands, practically bouncing where she stands. "That just leaves Baofu! Belladonna and Nameless already agreed to provide a little musical motivation for the next time that we're in the Velvet Room, so--"

"Of course you got the Velvet Room involved in this. I'm almost starting to feel sorry for the Suou set..."

* * *

Baofu, much like Ulala, thinks it's pointless, a waste of time, and a slew of other negative options. But Baofu, also much like Ulala, eventually caves (though less because Maya has appealed to his sense of compassion and more because she and Ulala pester him incessantly and he'd rather devote his time to the large issue at hand and not pour glass after glass of gin down his throat to see what will overpower him faster-- the alcohol or two whining women). It helps that he doesn't have to pick a fight with Ulala again, but to do so with Katsuya, in the hopes that insulting everything about him in front of his brother will get Tatsuya to spring to his defense and admit in the process that he longs for a closer bond with his sole sibling.

What _actually_ happens is that when he's finished calmly mocking Katsuya's clothing, cat allergy, hopelessness around women, cooking preferences, terrible sunglasses, and his uptight sense of justice, Baofu finds himself being approached by a very solemn Tatsuya... who then proceeds to ask him if they can talk a little more, because he just seems to _get_ it and Baofu gives good advice. Unlike his brother, who doesn't understand him at all, and who has probably heard all of that, given that he's standing six feet away and rapidly tugging on his sleeve cuffs. Baofu gains a platonic admirer, Katsuya's irritation, and an answering shrug from Maya when he glances in her direction and sees that Ulala has slammed her head into her roommate's back with an audible groan of "What did you _expect?_ "

* * *

Tatsuya is a little too sharp for his own good-- or for Maya's, she amends, because she knows his perceptiveness has helped him through quite a bit. But right now, when he's continuously questioning _why_ Ulala has decided to teach him and his brother the flamboyant ways of flamenco, Maya can't help but wish that he could just go along with it without protest. Kind of like his brother, who _had_ put up some fuss and mumbled that his guitar skills were better than his dancing skills, until Ulala had unceremoniously shoved a rose between his teeth and told him something in a singsong whisper that still has him glancing over at Maya with flushed cheeks every so often when he completes a turn.

"There's an entirely different connection you can make through dance," Ulala had assured her before she'd roped the Suou brothers into practice. "It's intimate. You share your feelings through _movement_. And if these two are so terrible at talking about their feelings like we _know_ they are, this gives them the perfect excuse."

It's clearly _not_ the reason she'd given her two reluctant students, because Ulala's voice snaps across the air like an actual attack. "Suou the younger, what do you think you're doing, collecting static by shuffling around like that? Pick your _feet_ up, a marching band has cleaner movements than you do!! That's not going to help you dodge any demons anytime soon! Do you think any of them are going to be impressed with such stupidly shoddy footwork? I don't _think_ so!"

Maya disguises a laugh as a cough-- rather convincing-sounding, in her opinion, since Katsuya offers her a concerned frown mid-dramatic pose and Baofu tells her to "go to bed early tonight, not that it's my business but it's a pain in the ass if you keel over later."

"I'll sleep great when these two strengthen their familial ties," Maya promises, hope warm in her heart as she watches Ulala put the fear of Dance Instructors into the pair of them. It... definitely strengthens their evasion in battle, much to their satisfaction, but they still refuse to speak cordially to each other, much to Maya's chagrin, and in a terrible case of a self-fulfilling prophecy, her dreams consist of Tatsuya and Katsuya turning their backs on each other and quite literally dancing away into the darkness.

Nothing seems to be working. Not Maya roping them into an interview to ask them to share precious memories of their childhood together-- Tatsuya just mutters something and leaves two minutes in. Not trying to bribe the Sumaru Genie to use her predictions to keep dropping hints about bonding with siblings-- Katsuya had mentioned them not seeming very accurate lately, and Maya had thought it best to leave quickly. Not even a stirring ballad, expertly drawn together from Nameless' fingers and each word softly shivering in the air from Belladonna's powerful voice, can get the Suou brothers to make eye contact and smile at each other. 

Igor looks both knowing and amused, and Maya sighs and doesn't even bother to try to hide it as a cough this time. If a song like that, all about loving and believing and supporting your family, can't get through to them... it can't be beyond them, can it? Despite their disagreements, surely there has to be _something_ there that ties them together, that will see them through the hardest times as brothers. Maya had failed Tatsuya as his older sister figure, but if he still has his brother to look to, then maybe when all is said and done--

Her head throbs, and Maya wonders distantly why she feels so warm. Maybe it's the heat of her righteous frustration. Maybe the Velvet Room inhabitants had seen it fit to turn the heat on, despite winter being months away. Maybe it's her brain overheating from the past few nights of staying up, wracking her brain over schemes to bring the bickering brothers together before anything worse happens to drive them apart. Whatever the case might actually be, it's making her feel even fuzzier, like a dimming light bulb, and as she gives her head an irritable shake to try and focus on the here and now, she stumbles.

"Amano-kun?!"

"Maya-nee!!" and Maya thinks, inanely triumphant, that at least they're cooperating without hesitation _now_ when she feels them each grab hold of her arms to keep her upright. Baofu is mumbling something about idiots and catching colds as he tugs a glove off to press his knuckles to her forehead, and Maya thinks that's a terrible way to check for a fever but it's sweet of him to remove a glove in the first place. This is also her last thought before she unintentionally pulls what Ulala calls the "dramatic-maiden-swoon-out-of-a-movie" and it all goes dark.

* * *

"So," Ulala begins in a low growl, highly unamused as she brings over a bowl of okayu, picking her way through the mound of clothes that clog her path to her sheepish-looking roommate. "You didn't think you could include _don't neglect your health_ during your multitasking? You could have at least said something sooner, Ma-ya!"

"Sorry, I swear--" Maya coughs, even as she gratefully accepts the tray and picks up the spoon. "I was just so focused on getting them closer that I didn't even realize..."

Ulala glares at her, plopping down on the edge of her bed. "Of course not. That's _just_ like you-- but maybe this will make you feel better." She pauses to clear her throat, for dramatics, apparently. "While you were being feverish and princess carried, those two brothers could not shut _up_ about you. Whether you'd be okay, if you'd done this back in the younger Suou's time, the kind of cooling packs the older Suou used to buy for his brother when he got a fever, the both of them ganging up on _me_ to make sure there were ingredients for okayu--"

"Oh," Maya says meekly, recognizing that huffiness in her roommate's tone. Someone had probably gotten punched for questioning Ulala's ability to care for anyone. Possibly two someones. 

"They _did_ connect, probably," Ulala admits. "Over their worry about _you_ , yeah, but isn't that just another form of the bonds you like to talk about?"

Maya lowers her spoon, glancing down at the bowl. Baofu, reluctantly agreeing to help. Ulala, doubtful but nonetheless committed. And Tatsuya and Katsuya Suou, awkwardly caring in their own way. "Yeah," she says finally, pressing one hand over her heart with a smile. "I think this wound up being good for all of us. But, you _know_ , maybe I was being too ambitious. I bet if I just said that Tatsuya-kun was _sick_ , then his brother--"

"No," Ulala says flatly. "Rejected. Take a nap, we have a city to save."

"But then--!"

" _No!_ "


End file.
